The Rise Of Nativism In Eunice's

“Racism was used aggressively to divide poor white southerners from slaves. The relationship between the wealthy and the poor was aggressively exploited by the rich white slave holder to ensure the poor whites non-slave holder that they had a similar cause” (Shaping America: Lesson 16). This caused non-slave holding whites to have a similar view as latter. Non-slave holding whites were in direct competition with slaves and more often than not were forced out of work due to the free labor slavery had offered.

How race determined who was in and who was out. As Dickerson states “if race is real and not just a method for the haves to decide who will be have-nots, then all Europeans immigrants, from Ireland a to Greece, would have been “white” the moment they arrived here. Instead, as documented in David Roediger’s excellent Working Towards Whiteness, they were long considered inferior, nearly subhuman, and certainly not white” (69). This shows how race wasn’t about common culture or history but a concept to decide what race is good enough to be consider “white” or better than others. Even though the Europeans where the same race or color of the other people who considered themselves Americans or “white” they were still discriminated for being different and immigrants like everybody else. But soon they realized that identifying them self as being white gave them some sort of hierarchy. It gave them more class compared to the other races. As Debra Dickerson said, “If you were neither black nor Asian nor Hispanic, eventually you could become white, invested with enforceable civil rights and the right to exploit-and hate-nonwhites” (69). Being identify as white gave the power to have privileges that non-whites will never have since they are not the same color. Non- whites are treated unfairly compared to the white people in many ways. Discrimination not only took place between people of different races but

The book written by Joel Spring was based on the constant derogation and the oppression of the people that were not considered “white”. The constant segregation between races caused many fights for equal rights among Native Americans, African American, Asian and Hispanic people. The conflict was never easy because the United States demonstrated an ethnocentric attitude, which caused the idea of deculturalization for many of the incoming immigrant races. The book demonstrates accuracy in many of the historical struggles between education, language, culture lands, and equal rights for a voice among the people in the United States.

In Joel Spring’s, “Deculturalization and Struggle for Equality”, he argues that during the construction of the new world (contemporary United States) nonwhite racial groups were created by elitist in order to have them deculturalized and maintain a system of racial superiority. Native Americans, Puerto Ricans, Mexicans, Blacks and Asians were each subject to systematic oppression in regards to racial formation, deculturalization, segregation and nation building. These dominated groups share the struggle of equality in this nation where “All men are equal” brought upon them by educational policies contrary to their socioeconomic interest and appealing to Euro-Americans.

In 1917 America entered World War one. By doing this America played a grave role in conquering Germany and ushering peace to Europe. However, the Great War also meant that the US would change dramatically through historical issues and changes which resulted in American society. Industries had started to realise that it was not as simple as it was before to abstract the immigrants. As the country developed and became more successful it attracted outsiders who were searching for chances. During the 1920¡¯s the United States began to confine immigrants due to cultural and economical purposes. The immigrants faced several afflictions such as: racism and religious oppression. The examination of immigration expressed an important

Since its inception, America has been called the land of opportunity, but around the late nineteenth century the United States started limiting the entry of European and Chinese immigrants. These closed door policies for European and Asian immigration in the 1920s were a result of increased racism in the United States. People living in the United States began to redefine and selectively narrow the amount of ethnicities that the word white included. The book Passing of the Great Race by Madison Grant stated that the white race can be broken up into superior and inferior races. According to Grant, people who were of Nordic descent made up the superior upper class, while the other European immigrants and Jews were considered low class and inferior. Grants novel defined who is considered to be white which subsequently led to the mistreatment of the inferior white race in America.

Since its creation America has been called the land of opportunity, but around the late nineteenth century the United States started to become more exclusive by limiting the entry of European and Chinese immigrants by closing the doors to immigration from Europe and Asia in the 1920s. At that time, individuals that have been in America for a number of years started to narrow down the amount of ethnicities that the word white included. The book Passing of the Great Race by Madison Grant stated that the white race can be broken up into superior and inferior races. Grant calls the pure Nordic race the superior upper class, while the other European immigrants and Jews were considered low class and inferior. Grants novel led to a separation and limitation of who is considered to be white, which led to the inferior whites being treated differently in America.

In the Wages of Whiteness (an edition revision) by David Roediger, an American labor historian, he examines the growth and social construction of race during the 1800s and its relations to white workers. Roediger states by labeling race based on its skin color and social status, white folks were“...seen as ‘naturally’ white, and Black workers become ‘intruders’ who are strongly suspected of being ‘loafers’ as well” (Roediger 19). The production of race formed once white workers accepted their class positions by accepting their identities as ‘not slaves’ and as ‘not Blacks’. In this case, there was a necessity for white workers to have its own sense of class and gender identity to determine who has power and who does not.

Economically, they filled a significant need for cheap labor in booming American industries. The large numbers of immigrants helped keep labor cost down for Big Business and different groups were often put against each other in competition for the cheapest workers. Politically, different immigrant groups became active members of various labor organizations and unions, pushing to change pro-business laws and establish regulations governing working conditions and wages. And socially, American culture as it is known now was formed by this influx of immigrants. People from all over the planet brought with them not only their labor but also their cultures, helping to contribute to the mosaic that is the American way of life. These immigrants, as shown by the prejudice and discrimination directed towards them, were not always welcome. In economic hard times, immigrants were blamed for job shortages and family hardships, used as scapegoats for larger problems. Nativist movements were directed against the Chinese, Japanese, Italians, and others, especially during the 1880s and 90s. As evidenced by the Chinese Exclusion Act and later legislation that limited immigration from Japan and other regions, this anti-immigrant sentiment went as high up as the nation's capital. This history was simply a repeat of the nativism and hatred directed against the Irish and Germans of the 1840s and 1850s and is similar to that experienced in America today by immigrants from Mexico and Latin America. In the area of immigration, history repeats

David R. Roediger displays the history of how the theory of “whiteness” has evolved throughout the years in America in his book, The Wages of Whiteness. According to Roediger, “whiteness” is much a constructed identity as “blackness” or any other. He argues that this idea of “whiteness” has absolutely nothing to do with the advantage of the economy, but that it is a psychological racial stereotype that was created by white men themselves. He claims that it is definitely true that racism should be set in class and economic contexts, also stating that “this book will argue that working class formation and the systematic development of a sense of whiteness, went hand in hand for the U.S white working class.” Roediger basically lays out the fact that “working class ‘whiteness’ and “white supremacy” are ideological and psychological creations of the white working class itself.

In his book, Not Like Us: Immigrants and Minorities in America, 1890-1924, Roger Daniels explores the true history of American nativism in a time period where immigrants entered the country in greater numbers than ever before, or since. Instead of focusing on politics or economic growth at the turn of the twentieth century, Daniels instead discusses the social context of the time and the treatment of immigrants and minorities. Born in New York City and educated at both the University of Houston and UCLA, Daniels holds a Ph.D. in History, is the Charles Phelps Taft Professor at the University of Cincinnati, and has written several books on the matters of race and ethnicity.

Benjamin Franklin once said “In short, unless the stream of their importation could be turned...they will soon so outnumber us, that all the advantages we have, will, in my opinion, be not able to preserve our language, and even our government will become more precarious.” Written in a letter in 1750 by our very own Founding Father Benjamin Franklin in regards to the high volume of migrating Germans into the colony of Pennsylvania. To many readers they could easily expect these words from nativist, but hearing it from one of the most influential people in history it conveys a lot about the shaping of the United States and where its roots of nativism started. Nativism is defined as 'a policy favoring native inhabitants as opposed to immigrants'.

At the same time, as we learned in class, America’s population grew because of labor mobility. People began to migrate from rural to urban areas, and from Europe to North America, in search of better economic opportunities, and to improve their lives. The job market became more and more competitive Hubert Gutman’s “Work, Culture, and Society in Industrializing America 1815-1919” sheds light on the struggle of farmers and tradesmen who were forced into unskilled labor positions during the industrial revolution and the many new immigrants that were finding their way to America Gutman states, “A factory worker in New

By the end of the war, the new immigrant groups had been fully accepted as loyal ethnic Americans, rather than members of distinct and inferior “races.” And the contradiction between the principle of equal freedom and the actual status of blacks had come to the forefront of national life.

Americans were unsettled by the overwhelming amount of new immigrants. The new immigrants came in such massive quantities that in 1900 immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe made up as much as 70 percent of all immigrants. This is a dramatic increase considering that in midcentury these immigrants only made up 1 percent of the immigrant population. This overhaul of new immigrants led to severe hostility, bias, and nativism. Nativism is the belief that native-born white Americans were superior to newcomers. Competition for jobs and housing had never been higher in the late 19th century. America was in an economic recession and most immigrants were willing to work for much lower wages than natural born citizens which as a result put them out of work and ultimately housing. This however was only one problem, religion was another. American Protestants were suspicious of Catholicism which was the religion of many new immigrants including the Irish, German, Italian, and Polish. The majority of white Protestants would not hire, vote for, or even work with Catholics or Jewish people. In severe cases Americans would even sign contracts agreeing not to